Studies on Semantics in Generative Grammar

The three essays that follow take as their point of departure the formulation of grammatical theory presented in such work as J. J. Katz and P. M. Postal, An Integrated Theory of Linguistic Descriptions, 1954, and Chomsky, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, 1965. For ease of exposition, I refer to this formulation as the "standard theory". The essays deal with problems that arise within this framework, and present a revision of the standard theory to an "extended standard theory" (EST). The status of deep structure is a central concern in all three essays.